Community-Led Village Design Statements in Ireland TOOLKIT October 2012 Community-Led Village Design Statements in Ireland TOOLKIT October 2012 © The Heritage Council 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be printed or reproduced or utilised in any electronic, mechanical,or other means, now known or heretoafter invented, including photocopying or licence permitting restricted copying in Ireland issued by the Irish Copyright Licencing Agency Ltd., The Writers Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 Published by the Heritage Council ISSN 1393 6794 The Heritage Council of Ireland Series ISBN 978-1-906304-20-1 75 Printed on Recycled paper containing a minimum of 75% de-inked post consumer waste. Contents Foreword by the Chairman and Chief Executive Part 1 Background and Introduction to the Community-led Village Design Statement Toolkit 1 Part 2 Community-led Village Design Statements – Eight distinct and critical steps 10 Step 1 Getting started 11 Step 2 Getting going 19 Step 3 Getting into your stride 29 Step 4 Striding out 36 Step 5 Getting over the jumps 41 Step 6 A clear round 53 Step 7 Meanwhile back at the ranch 58 Step 8 The winner’s enclosure 61 Part 3 Further information and contact details 65 Appendices: Appendix 1: People involved in the production of the Community-led VDS Toolkit 66 Appendix 2: Bibliography and further reading 68 VDS Toolkit Fact Sheets: Fact Sheet No. 1: Local Authority Heritage Officers (28 no.) – contact details. Fact Sheet No. 2: Glossary of useful terms. Fact Sheet No. 3: Overview of collaborative and participative process – eight steps. Fact Sheet No. 4: Useful websites. Fact Sheet No. 5: Project Charter template. Fact Sheet No. 6: Template for VDS brief – Julianstown VDS Consultants’ Brief, June 2009. Fact Sheet No. 7: Julianstown VDS – scoring matrix. Fact Sheet No. 8: Sources of potential funding – funding streams. This Toolkit has been prepared in accordance with Articles 5C, 6B and 6C of the European Landscape Convention (ELC) and the UNECE Aarhus Convention. Foreword by the Chairman and Chief Executive Irish small towns and villages have in the recent past faced enormous pressure for change. Rural villages in the east and urban villages within our towns and cities, particularly in Leinster, have been under enormous development pressure. Conversely, long established villages in the west faced significant problems associated with population migration and a parallel decline and decay of the historic built heritage. The pace of change during the ‘celtic tiger’ period was unprecedented and villagescapes, both rural and urban, changed literally overnight, As a result, communities often struggled to make sense of their new environments and landscapes. We all now know how unsustainable such an approach proved to be. In anticipation of the development pressure, and building on our commitment to community development, the Heritage Council introduced the first Village Design Statement (VDS) Programme in 2000. The focus of these early VDSs was to raise public awareness of heritage assets and to provide design guidelines to enhance and protect local distinctiveness and local heritage features. Approximately 40 villages benefited during this initial phase of the programme, which operated during 2000-2007 and was externally evaluated in 2008. The purpose of this Toolkit is to empower and enable more village communities to seize the initiative and start out on the very rewarding road towards creating and implementing their own Village Design Statement. In essence, the Community-led Village Design Statement (VDS) Initiative seeks to facilitate real and meaningful public participation and engagement in environmental planning, management and decision making matters. Put simply, the community-led approach to village planning and design aims to give a voice to village communities and strengthen the overall concept of community-led planning, heritage management and conservation in Ireland. Since the mid-2000s, a significant shift in the need to secure meaningful public participation has taken place at an international, European and national level. The European Landscape Convention (ELC) and, more recently, the UNECE Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, have been to the fore in driving change. Both conventions have added considerable weight and recognition to the approach adopted by the Heritage Council, and also led to changes within Irish planning legislation. The current phase of the VDS initiative commenced in 2009 with the setting up of the two pilot projects in Julianstown (rural village) and Sandymount (urban village) using a collaborative and participative approach developed in partnership with the local communities and the local authorities. The processes, outcomes and important lessons learned from both these community-led projects forms the basis of this VDS Toolkit. Our sincere thanks to everyone involved in this collaboration. This sharing of experience and of practical and clear guidance can now assist other communities to benefit. All of those involved in the development of the Toolkit remain committed to participation through the exchange of good practice. We hope you find the Toolkit useful. CONOR NEWMAN MICHAEL STARRETT CHAIR CHIEF EXECUTIVE Part 1 Part 1 - Background and Introduction to the Community-led Village Design Statement (VDS) Toolkit Background Irish small towns and villages are a ‘central component of the history of this island, whose fabric and morphology retain significant traces from the past’1. Our small towns and villages have, for a long time, created a significant sense of regional, and sometimes very local, character based on the natural, built and cultural heritage. Put simply, each Irish village is distinctive and unique. A village in the west of Ireland, such as Tulla, is clearly different from a village located in the east, such as Julianstown or Slane. One village may be focused around a central green space, like Malin or Sandymount, while another will be clearly linear in pattern and layout, like Glassan or Coolgreany. Our unique history and identity have provided us with villages whose street patterns today reflect the layout of early medieval monastic settlements, villages from the Plantation period, ones that began as planned estate villages in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, or framed around long-established, if often now gone, industries. These settlements were also important market and social centres for the surrounding rural catchment areas. As a result, the sense of place created by a village’s cultural heritage links directly to a community’s sense of identity, which can ultimately enhance people’s overall sense of being and belonging and quality of life. This Community-led Village Design Statement Toolkit has been developed by the Heritage Council in partnership with the village communities in Julianstown (County Meath) and Sandymount (Dublin City), along with Meath County Council and Dublin City Council. This Toolkit sets out a Step by Step Guide to undertaking a community-led Village Design Statement (VDS) in Ireland, using a collaborative and participative process, and has been developed in accordance with the UNECE Aarhus Convention and the European Landscape Convention (ELC). While this Toolkit deals specifically with community-led Village Design Statements, it is hoped that the information and guidance provided on relevant structures, processes, outputs and potential outcomes will enable and empower local communities throughout the island of Ireland to become involved in shaping their local environments. It is also hoped that it will become a useful ‘tool’ for community groups who are considering undertaking other sustainable, community-led heritage and planning projects. We recommend that you read through this guide in full, in order to understand what is involved in the overall community-led VDS process, and that you talk to and meet with other community groups who have already gone through the collaborative and participative VDS process. The Step-by-Step Guide to undertaking a community-led VDS is assisted by checklists, case studies and helpful tips, many of which resulted from the pilot community-led Village Design Statements undertaken in Julianstown and Sandymount during 2009-2010 and 2009-2011 respectively. Pilot Village Design Statements – rural and urban Two pilot community-led Village Design Statements were undertaken during 2009-2011 to inform the new community-led approach in Ireland and the Heritage Council’s VDS Toolkit, as follows: 1. Julianstown Village in County Meath, which dates back to the ninth century, was the national rural pilot VDS undertaken by the Heritage Council in partnership with the Julianstown and District Community Association (JDCA) and Meath County Council. This community-led VDS, which commenced in June 20092, was formally launched by former Minister Ciaran Cuffe in October 2010; and 1 Source: Atlas of the Rural Irish Landscape, Cork University Press, 1st Edition (1997), pg 180 and 2nd Edition (2011), pg 256. 1 2 JDCA created a community play, which was performed at the Heritage Council’s VDS Conference at Slane Castle in October 2008. A DVD of the play was produced with the support of the Heritage Council and launched by the JDCA, the Heritage Council and Meath County Council at the JDCA’s AGM (evening) in March 2009. The VDS Scoping Workshop ‘piggy-backed’ the AGM event. Part 1 2. Sandymount Village in the south of Dublin City, originally part of the Pembroke Estate, was the urban pilot VDS undertaken by the Heritage Council in partnership with the Sandymount Community and Dublin City Council. This community-led VDS, which commenced in September 2009 was formally launched by Minister Jimmy Deenihan T.D. in September 2011. Both pilot community-led Village Design Statements provide innovative and creative examples of how local communities in Ireland can: • Become actively involved and engaged in shaping their local environments and landscapes, both rural and urban. • Play a pivotal role in heritage, environmental planning and sustainable development matters in their locality.